It has been at least half a day since the mugging, and Kayo still didn't feel any more or less hungry than since he woke up.
Ah screw it, at worst I'll eat in the next settlement.
He tapped the pommel of his new sword.
Hopefully I can just sell these instead of having to steal again.
As he walked, he took notice of a nearby lake, reflecting the glare of the evening sun.
Well, I do have some leftover grime on me... May as well.
It was the most pristine natural water he had ever seen, like a grounded mirror surrounded by vast foliage and trees.
He came closer, and just before he tarnished the lake by washing his face with it, he jumped back. The reflection, it wasn't him...Was it? Carefully, he knelt down and crawled towards the water like a border collie.
No. That can't be me...
What stared back at him was a man, couldn't have been older than mid-30s, with short, dark hair with an out-of-place streak of strange color, and an equally dark, short beard covering a square face. That would normally be fine, if Kayo wasn't blonde in his previous life. As he ran his fingers through his hair, he noticed something about his eyes. They were different too. In the place of the previously silver blue pearls were now two magenta dots, same hue as the streak in his hair. He leaned in closer, noticing that, not only were they slightly glowing, but they each had an odd, black ring in them, separating the iris into two concentric circles.
Is that why I could see in the dark this whole time?
He pulled his eyelid down to reveal more of his strange eyes, but soon realized he had been making faces at a fish. Wordlessly, they engaged in a staring contest. Unfortunately, Kayo ended up losing, soon realizing just how dumb that must've looked from the outside.
As the sun began to truly set, he splashed some water on his face to finally wash off the dirt, then returned to the dirt path with a lot more to think about.
If my appearance could be changed like that, whatever may be the reason or cause, what else could change without me ever realizing? Hell, is the fog related to this? The reanimation? Night vision?... The lack of biological needs... Maybe I did steal that guy's bread for nothing... Well, not much I can do about that now.
• • •
Christ man, how much longer until the next village at least?
Though he wasn't feeling sleepy, he still seemed to run out of energy all the same. The sun had already set, and the night befell the lands once more by the time Kayo decided to sit down on the side of the path. A cool, gentle wind grazed the plains and hills. Kayo wanted to climb the tallest one around to get a better view of the environment, but finding a sufficiently tall hill would mean straying from the path considerably. That was a risk he was not willing to take.
The sound of hooves clopping broke through the silence of the night, going the same way Kayo was headed.
Convenient.
He didn't know why exactly he was expecting horses. Perhaps a standard set by the human in the village, the bandits, and even the fish overwrote everything he had seen prior to them. Nevertheless, what emerged from behind the turn was a single monstrosity, something more like a bull, or perhaps a short haired yak. Its six legs clopped rhythmically along the hard dirt path, its exhales audible from a distance. Two large horns curved backwards like a mouflon adorned its head, and its face resembled a wildebeest more than anything else. That was the description brewing up within Kayo's mind.
Behind the creature was a decently-sized carriage, and though it resembled a house in a way, it was unmistakably meant for cargo. It had two sections, the longer but shorter in the front with two tall wooden walls along the sides, and a cloth roof overhead resembling a kind of viking longhouse. The back section had the roof stretch a bit higher, but very few differences in overall structure otherwise. Much like the animal pulling it, the carriage had six legs... Uh, wheels in total, with the back section having two larger ones in comparison to the four smaller in the front. Kind of like a tractor. The driver sat on the front stairs leading to the longer section, seemingly smoking from a pipe and occasionally humming an unknown melody.
Kayo slid down the hill he rested upon and placed himself on the side of the road, enough not to get ran over but enough for the driver to hopefully notice him. And notice him he did. The carriage came to sudden halt, and Kayo soon found himself staring into a gas lamp.
"Gl yla uu lue?" the driver said with a rough voice and yet pleasant tone.
Of course, the words themselves meant less than nothing to Kayo, but at least he wasn't being aggressive. Though gestures did not seem to have a good track record in this world either, it was worth a shot. Kayo pointed at himself, then further down the road. He made several deep exhales to indicate exhaustion.
The man pointed behind himself, "Ÿla o u l ou yla?"
There was no other option but a leap of faith, hopefully that was an invitation to ride with. Kayo nodded. The driver smiled and nodded for him to get on through the back. Overjoyed, Kayo gave a polite bow before climbing up the short ladder on the back of the shorter section. Surprisingly enough, he wasn't alone. A woman and a small boy already sat on the floor and leaning on the walls. The boy wore similar clothes to the driver, a simple tunic with a dark blue vest over it, and modest brown three-quarter pants with sandals.
That's probably his son.
The woman, on the other hand, looked a lot more… Well, the best word would probably be different, as non-descriptive as that is. She wore a grey travel poncho with various patterns of lighter shades, underneath which she hid a smaller messenger bag. Her black boots were no doubt tall, but concealed underneath dark green cargo pants. Her dirty blonde hair was tied into a high bun. She looked too young to be the wife of the driver, Kayo estimated a 40-50 year age gap.
Either his daughter has a very unique style, or I'm not the only hitchhiker.
Kayo said nothing as he joined them on the floor, he simply waved out of habit. He received a nod and a smile from the child, but nothing else.
The carriage was set into motion once again, and Kayo understood why the woman looked like she was gonna puke any minute. The road was uneven and bumpy, not a meter of smooth surface.
"Ou yla le l u tey ll, eú?" the boy decided to break the silence first.
I'm hearing a lot of repeat words. One of those has gotta be 'you' or something common like that.
Kayo first pointed at himself, then his mouth, where he made a cross. He may as well pretend to be mute. The boy, fortunately, seemed to get the memo, and didn't ask further questions.
The girl's state only appeared to be worsening.
Well shit, I left all my Bonine at home. Literally.
Kayo snapped his fingers a few times to get her attention, then pointed outside through the semi-open back of the cart towards the horizon. He kept his finger there until she glued her eyes in that direction.
I don't suppose there's space in the front section. That's the best I can do for now. Must be an infrequent traveler.
They traveled like this for most of the night: the child couldn't sit still for more than five minutes and probably walked more steps around the cart than if he went on foot next to it. The woman focused on not emptying her insides on the floor, and Kayo's mind was flooded with all kinds of questions he couldn't ask in more ways than one. For a curious mind like his, it was tantamount to torture... Again.
• • •
Eventually, both of his co-passengers fell asleep. He didn't, of course, not for a lack of trying. That was when he noticed a small pile of paper and a pencil on a barrel next to the sleeping kid.
May as well...
The cart ran over a bigger rock after a while, waking the boy up. Groggy, he noticed Kayo scribbling on the blank papers, and with great interest shuffled closer.
The doodles depicted some of the events he went through, spare for the worldhopping.
The boy circled through the pages in a completely random order, but sketches of the meerbat did seem to grab his attention the most. Kayo tried to hide the ones that saw him hanging in the monster's lair, such scenes were meant for adult eyes, the woman—Perhaps she'd be able to interpret it better and help him in any way whatsoever.
The child's eyes contained pure sparkles of wonder, and Kayo couldn't tell whether that was a compliment to his drawings skills, or if spirits weren't as common as the meerbat had said. Maybe a bit of both.
• • •
For how inexperienced with vehicular travel she seemed to be, she sure sleeps like a corpse. Maybe that's for the better, actually, at least she doesn't have to deal with the sickness.
By the time the woman woke up, the sun was high in the sky, though still before noon. The cart had also stopped to let the creature pulling it get some rest. While the boy was doing his best gadfly impression around his napping father, Kayo and the girl decided to stretch their legs a bit.
While walking, Kayo showed her his drawings, which she leafed through with an increasing concern. At the very least, she seemed to get that Kayo couldn't understand them, that he wasn't just mute on a technicality.
She, like the child, seemed to find a favorite series of pages: Kayo's self-portrait. She seemed rather focused on the eyes in particular, taking moments to look up at Kayo, then back at the page, comparing the two. She pointed at his eye, then at the drawing, to which Kayo nodded.
Please tell me she recognizes it!
But her response was a dismissive head shake. Did the rings go away? The woman pulled a handheld mirror from her bag, handing it to Kayo. No, the eyes were still there, exactly the same as before. Then, was it possible that she could not see them? Why?
Not wanting to push it any further on behalf of probably looking like a lunatic right now, he returned the mirror and compiled all of his pages.
There goes my one hope.
"Fuuuck..." he sighed, deep and loud.
The old man whistled at the two of them as he sat behind his animal. They were departing again.
• • •
After roughly two days on the road, Kayo thought he was gonna be the first to go crazy from the constant shaking of the carriage. On the bright side, the woman seemed to be handling herself better and better.
Through the open back, Kayo noticed a large shadow following, and then overtaking them. The details were indiscernible, but he could've sworn it looked like a giant bird of some kind, and it definitely couldn't have been a plane without any noise.
Soon after that encounter, the carriage came to a halt.
I swear if it's another mugging or a giant bird on the road...
The boy jumped out first, then the woman. That gave Kayo peace of mind as he followed them.
It took him several minutes to take in what he was looking at. There, in the distance, floated a massive island, with a skyline that stretched across the entirety of its diameter. Surrounding it were hundreds of smaller islands connected by bridges, some empty and some, especially the bigger ones, riddled with smaller houses of their own. In front of him, on the ground, was something akin to a dock: a concrete platform filled with large containers, strange floating trucks driving in orderly lines with and without cargo, but very few cranes. Most of the loading work was being done by people seemingly telekinetically moving containers from place to place. There were larger ships behind all the commotion, loaded with hundreds of containers at a time. But they weren't on water. Below the floating island was a foggy vastness, a chasm the bottom of which could not be seen.
The old man was speaking to some employees, who then directed him towards a loading platform with a smaller truck waiting.
End of the line, I guess.
The woman pulled him out of the way of group of burly men chatting. She pointed towards a distant island in the sky, one with a lone, tall building on it. Kayo didn't have time to process the message as she already dragged him towards the skyward bridges, towards the island.